This invention relates generally to personal care products that include a non-woven substrate, more particularly such a non-woven substrate that is intended for contact with human skin while the substrate is moved relative to the subject's skin, as in the manner of a tissue or wet wipe, and even more particularly to such a non-woven substrate that is configured to evoke a desired neurosensory skin response when moved relative to the subject's skin while in contact therewith.
Personal care products that comprise or otherwise incorporate a non-woven substrate come in many different forms including without limitation, for example, dry or wet wipes, absorbent articles such as diapers, training pants, feminine care products and bandages, medical garments, bath tissue and facial tissue. Wet wipes, for example, typically contain a cream, lotion, ointment or other substance that is applied to one's skin by rubbing or wiping the wipe relative to skin while in contact therewith to deliver the substance onto the skin for treatment thereof. Some functional attributes provided by such products are often transparent to the subject person. To this end, these personal care products may also include a perception characteristic such as color, smell, visual texture and/or tactile features to enhance the user's experience and provide the user with a positive indication or perception of the functional attribute of the personal care article. For example, colored dots have been used to signify activity of an anti-viral facial tissue; visual texture in bath tissue is linked to enhanced cleaning; drapability of wipes provides a perception of softness; and fragrances in toiletries may imply freshness.
Of these perception characteristics, tactile features and more particularly features intended to purposefully stimulate the neurosensory skin function have been insufficiently explored. In one known model of mechanoreception, referred to as a four-channel model, four information-processing channels exist for the human skin, with each channel being mediated by a morphologically distinct receptor type innervated by a specific nerve fiber type and tuned to a different range of frequencies. In general, the four psychophysical channels at their absolute thresholds have overlapping frequency characteristics for detection of sinusoidal vibration, with each channel optimally tuned to a specific region of the spectrum.
There is a need, therefore, for a non-woven substrate configured (e.g., having tactile surface features) to target a particular mechanoreceptor response when rubbed against human skin, and more particularly such a configuration that takes into account the expected speed at which the substrate will be rubbed against a particular skin region of a person. For example, such a response may be a positive response allowing for a pleasing feel to the user. Alternatively, the response can be such that the sensory response is lost (i.e., the subject against whose skin the substrate is being rubbed has little or no sense of the rubbing), allowing for treatment of itch or irritation symptoms.